The First Sneak Peek at J.K. Rowling's New TV Show Is Here

Strike: The Cuckoo's Calling starts on the BBC this month.

J. K. Rowling's New TV show
(Image credit: +BBC)

J. K. Rowling is a prolific storyteller, so it won't surprise hardcore fans that another adaptation of one of her books is coming to TV screens very soon. This time, though, there's no magic involved. Instead, Strike: The Cuckoo's Calling, is the first of her Cormoran Strike detective novels to make it to the screen.

Rowling famously writes the Strike novels under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith. While her real identity was quickly revealed, The Cuckoo's Calling is a style departure for Rowling, because she's synonymous with Harry Potter and all things Hogwarts.

The Guardian spoke to the TV show's executive producer, Ruth Kenley-Letts, who said, "What makes Strike an exceptional investigator is that he just works very hard. He's not like Sherlock–blessed with the ability to see everything. He's a former soldier who lost a leg in Afghanistan and who had a difficult upbringing. He's not magical. There's something appealing about that. It makes a nice change to have a show where the crimes aren't solved in a clever-dick way but because they put the effort in."

As Strike: The Cuckoo's Calling is such a return to classic storytelling, it should appeal to Harry Potter fans, and anyone who's sick of how over the top Sherlock has become in recent years.

The Cuckoo's Calling airs on the BBC on Sunday, August 27, and will hopefully be available in the US soon after that.

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Amy Mackelden
Contributing Editor

Amy Mackelden is a contributing editor at Marie Claire, where she covers celebrity and royal family news. She was the weekend editor at Harper’s BAZAAR for three years, where she covered breaking celebrity and entertainment news, royal stories, fashion, beauty, and politics. Prior to that, she spent a year as the joint weekend editor for Marie Claire, ELLE, and Harper's BAZAAR, and two years as an entertainment writer at Bustle. Her additional bylines include Cosmopolitan, People, The Independent, HelloGiggles, Biography, Shondaland, Best Products, New Statesman, Heat, and The Guardian. Her work has been syndicated by publications including Town & Country, Good Housekeeping, Esquire, Delish, Oprah Daily, Country Living, and Women's Health. Her celebrity interviews include Jennifer Aniston, Jessica Chastain, the cast of Selling Sunset, Emma Thompson, Jessica Alba, and Penn Badgley. In 2015, she delivered an academic paper at Kimposium, the world's first Kardashian conference.